Areas

Areas

The Areas module is accessed by clicking the Areas button on the Ecofleet toolbar.

Purposes of the Areas module

Supplements the Map and allows you to add functional details to the map

The areas created are searchable

Defined areas can be used to have Journal automatically distinguish business and private trips, for example trips to visit customers can automatically be entered to journal as business trips.

If you have areas defined, the following reports in the Reports module become useful:

Areas report.

Shows a report of how many times areas were visited, how much time was spent in these areas altogether and how long the visit was on average.

Area groups report.

Shows a report where areas are displayed by groups, for example "Warehouses" or "Offices".

Top destinations report.

Shows a report of destinations (areas and address spots) visited.

Top routes report.

Shows a report of routes (organized by starting and ending location) and minimum, average, and maximum time and distance travelled.

Four different area shapes are possible, some of which allow you to be more exact when defining (route, polygon), others are faster and easier to create (line, circle).

Areas view

Contents of the Areas view

The right side of the screen displays the Map.

The left side of the screen displays a list of defined areas. For each area, the following are displayed: its name, the group it belongs to, its postal code and whether or not it has an address. The list may be filtered by typing in one of the search boxes.

On the relationship between areas and addresses

By default, Ecofleet uses the addresses found in mapping software.

When creating an area, you have an option to create an area so that it will override the default information in mapping software. To do so, check the Sets address checkbox when creating a new area.

When checked, instead of the address, the name you have given the area will be displayed in Ecofleet. This can be used to mark any frequently visited locations with a more easily understood name. For example, you could create a circular area called "Company headquarters" that would encompass the headquarters, the surrounding streets and parking lots. Or, where the physical address spot is large, you could mark various parking lots, warehouses on the business premises with various areas, each setting their own address.

How to mark an area on the map

How to mark a polygon-shaped area

Click on the Add polygon button on top of the list of areas. When you move the mouse cursor to the map, the pointer will have turned into a cross. Click on the points to mark the corners of the area. Finish by clicking one of the points a second time. Ecofleet will connect the dots to a polygonal area and open an input window for the area.

How to mark a line-shaped area

Click on the Add line button on top of the list of areas. When you move the mouse cursor to the map, the pointer will have turned into a cross. Click any number of points. Finish by clicking one of the points a second time. Ecofleet will connect the dots to a line-shaped area and open an input window for the area.

How to mark a circle-shaped area

Click on the Add circle button on top of the list of areas. A circle will be marked on the map and an input window for an area will open. You can click and drag on the center of the circle to move the circle. You can click and drag one of the four points on the circle to make the circle bigger or smaller.

Another way to mark a circle-shaped area is to right-click on the map, then select Create area on the input window that opens.

How to mark a route-shaped area

Click the Distance calculator ( ) icon above the map. The "Route planner" window will open and you can now mark waypoints on the map with the cross-shaped pointer.

Click (Create area) in the route planner window to turn the routes connecting the waypoints to an area.

Please note that Ecofleet will transform route-shaped areas to polygon-shaped areas. After the area has been saved, it is edited as a polygon-shaped area and no longer as a number of set waypoints.

Input for an area

Once you've finished marking a territory, an input box will open.

The input box displays the following fields:

Name. Allows you to assign a name to the area or edit one already entered.

Color selection box. The area will be marked in the color selected. Useful to distinguish overlapping or adjacent areas.

Group. Allows you to form area groups, for example "Client offices", "Warehouses" etc.

Description. A freeform description of the area.

Postal code. SeeMe will show the postal code if such data is available in the mapping software.

Radius (not displayed when creating polygon shape). You can use this insertion box to change how big far from the center the area extends. Can be useful to make a bit more exact areas.

Area. Ecofleet will calculate how many square meters the area covers.

Sets address checkbox. Allows the area to override the address given by mapping software for purposes of all Ecofleet modules. Has to be checked in order to use as private zones.

Which area shape to choose

Here are some tips on area shape selection.

Circle and line shapes are the fastest to create. These should be your default choice when you don't need to be too exact.

Polygons are more exact but also take more time to create. It is a good choice to use polygons is in any urban areas, where there are plenty of addresses already but where you may want to have your own designations for areas. Another good choice is to use polygons when you need to break down an address with a large acreage to smaller sections.

Route shape should be chosen for any major routes your vehicles may be travelling. Please note that after a route shape has been created, it can only be edited as a line.

Area groups

When creating or editing an area, you can assign the area to an area group, like "Offices" or "Parking lots". This allows you to:

Create Events that apply for area groups, for example to have an event of "Leaving office" to apply for any of the organization's offices.

Get the Areas group report that could give an overview of visits to clients, stores, etc, if the appropriate areas have been created.